College Grads and the Future

Posted by: Meredith K. | May 08,2008


Here’s an interesting piece , which focuses on college grad’s now graduating and what they’ll have to face as they enter the real world.  Issues like negotiating a starting salary and finding a job with health insurance come up – both very important topics.  But then I got to this sentence: “Even though graduates are just getting started in the work world, now is the time to start thinking about retirement.”

It made me pause, and even laugh a little to myself because it is so incredibly unrealistic.  There’s no way you could ask a 22-year-old to start saving for a time when they’re 65 and above.  Then again, the article goes on and talks about how today’s college grads may not be able to rely on social security.  40-50 years from now and the social security system may have all but collapsed.  At the very least, it is going to be in a very different form.  Adding to this, the kids of Boomers now graduating comprise a huge generation that is going to put a huge strain on a system that it already showing signs of weakness.  

So after I scoffed at the prospect of a person in their twenties responsibly saving for retirement, I reflected on what a different climate today’s college grads are facing.  Not to get too doom and gloom, but there are a lot of issues on the horizon: the weakening dollar, global warming, a possible depression.  Just the sheer mention of such things – that they’re even a possibility – should make college students take their financial futures very seriously.  

This isn’t the nineties anymore – the slacker generation.  Back then, you could get away with just getting by.  There’s no nice way to put this, but things are much tougher today.  As a response, today’s college grads need to be tough.  If saving for retirement seems a little far-fetched, at least saving in general is a good idea – for an emergency fund or even to buy a house, because that’s the thing that’s going to come before retirement.  Budgeting, keeping out of debt, and securing good employment may be more important for the younger generation today than any generation in the past.  

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